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“I received the
tribute of the kings of the seacoast – namely, the lands of the peoples of
Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, Mahallatu, Maizu, Kaizu, Amurru and the city of Arvad,
which is in the midst of the seas – silver, gold, tin, bronze, a bronze vessel,
multicolored linen garments, a large female monkey, a small female monkey,
ebony, boxwood, and ivory of sea creatures.They submitted to me.” – Ashurnasirpal II of Assyria Under constant pressure from Assyria, Phoenician merchant fleets
aggressively expanded their influence into Sardinia, North Africa and the
Tartessian coast of southern Spain.In
the central Mediterranean, they bore witness to the cultural resurgence of
Archaic Greece, and the growing power of the Etruscan kingdoms of Italy. http://s407341505.onlinehome.us/Episode_14_In_the_Midst_of_the_Seas.mp3

“My brother Ashur-danin-apli, in the time of Shalmaneser, his father, acted wickedly, bringing about sedition, rebellion, and wicked plotting, caused the land to rise in revolt, prepared for war, brought the people of Assyria, north and south, to his side, and made bold speeches, brought the cities into the rebellion and set his face to begin strife and battle.” – Shamshi-Adad V of Assyria

Shalmaneser III’s campaigns brought unrivalled wealth and power to Assyria, but internal discord tore the empire apart toward the end of his long reign. Warfare, religious strife, and bloody usurpation continued to roil the volatile states of Syria and Caanan. Meanwhile, the new kingdom of Urartu began to challenge Assyria’s role as sole regional superpower.

You may have noticed that I’ve passed the dozen episode mark and still have a few hundred years and a lot of history to cover before I reach 500 BC. In a nod to reality, I’ve changed the blog subtitle from “(around) a dozen” to “(around) twenty” podcasts. The fact that the series has grown since my original outline is definitely a good thing for me, since it means I’ve come across a lot of new and interesting information that I wanted to pass along while researching each culture and period. And if you’re a fan of the podcast, hopefully it’s a good thing for you too, since that means there will be more of the series to listen to!

I also wanted to mention that The Ancient World is now available on Stitcher SmartRadio. With Stitcher, you can listen to episodes on your iPhone, Android Phone, Kindle Fire and other devices. You can find Stitcher in your app store or at stitcher.com. The Ancient World Stitcher link is now included over on the right-hand side of this blog page…

The Olmec of Mesoamerica and the Chavin of Peru laid strong cultural foundations that would influence regional civilizations down through the first European encounters with the New World. The longest-lasting Chinese Dynasty, the Zhou, bore witness to eras of unity and conquest, the devolution of power to feudal lords, and the chaos of the Warring States Period.